IDA signs off on GlobalFoundries tax deal

The Saratoga County IDA has signed off on the GlobalFoundries local tax assessment deal that had been previously negotiated.

Below is what GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard said following the IDA’s decision. He cautioned, however, that the IDA’s decision is not the last hurdle in the process.The local school districts get to keep the $11 million in property taxes that they have already received from the company.

“We’ve always been prepared to pay our tax obligation based on a fair and reasonable assessment of the Fab 8 property. As you know, GlobalFoundries challenged the first two years of property tax assessments because we felt the assessments were not reasonable. But we’ve worked collaboratively with the towns of Malta and Stillwater and the Ballston Spa and Stillwater central school districts to reach this approved settlement agreement.

The typical cycle of companies challenging high assessments year-over-year has been destructive to many other communities around the country, especially in New York State, and we’re glad that this deal, which makes GlobalFoundries the area’s largest private property taxpayer, has been approved.

This settlement not only ends this dispute, but it prevents the destructive cycle of repeated lawsuits over property tax assessments and establishes fixed costs for our company and predictable tax revenue for the towns and schools well into the future.

We’ve already paid about $11 million in local property taxes — about $3 million in 2010 and about $8 million in 2011. As part of the settlement agreement, we agreed not to ask for a refund on those previous payments.”